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Health Disparities

"For too many racial and ethnic minorities in our country, good health is elusive, since appropriate health care is often associated with an individual's economic status, race and gender. While Americans as a group are healthier and living longer, the nation's health status will never be as good as it can be as long as there are segments of the population with poor health status". ---National Department of Health and Human Services---

The National Institute of Health defines health disparities as: "differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States." In essence, disparities in health exist when there are unequal burdens of disease among specific population groups. It is this unequal sharing of disease burdens that leads to differences in health status among population groups.

Numerous research efforts have shown that the burden of disease for various health conditions is not borne equally by all population groups. Racial and ethnic minorities, in general, suffer a disproportionate share of illness and early death. In both the state and nation, racial and ethnic minorities experience poorer health outcomes and more premature deaths than whites.

In a 1998 radio address, the President committed the nation to the elimination of disparities of health in six targeted areas by the year 2010. These health conditions were chosen due to their longstanding disparity trends between racial and ethnic minorities and whites at all stages of life. The targeted areas are:

• Infant Mortality
• Cancer Screening and Management
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Diabetes
• HIV Infection/AIDS
• Immunizations (coming soon)

What are some examples of Health Disparities?

Disparities are found in access to quality health care services, in the burden of diseases or complications from disease, and in the number of deaths from disease. For example, in South Carolina racial and ethnic minorities are more than two times more likely to experience diabetes than are white persons and three times more likely to die from the disease. Table 1 includes some examples of health disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities in SC.

Table 1. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Did You Know... Racial and ethnic minority infants in South Carolina are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white babies. In the year 2000, African Americans were over nine times more likely to be reported as having HIV/AIDS than were whites. Although the incidence of female breast cancer in SC is higher for whites, minority women, in particular African American women, are nearly twice as likely to die of the disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, Hispanic women have the highest incidence of cervical cancer, although African American women are more likely to die of the disease. According to the American Diabetes Association, racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to develop, experience complications, and die of diabetes than are white persons.

South Carolina Community Assessment Network (SCAN)